8. Yes Minister, Yes, Prime Minister: The Theoretical Dimension

The Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister satires are conventionally taken as realistic reflections of the British political system. A fastidious verisimilitude and the use of genuine statistics help create that impression, and the views of politicians—such as the enthusiastic Margaret Thatcher—reinforce it. It is argued in this chapter, however, that an informing and under-recognised theoretical dimension to the satires is crucial to their understanding. An exploration of well-digested theory about politics—especially that relevant to “The Westminster System” and bureaucracy—together with an investigation of commonly accepted myths about political language and honesty (some derived from satire) greatly complicates any simple relationship that might be thought to exist between satire and political reality. Drawing on archival materials and referring to a wide range of the episodes in both series, the specific topics considered in this chapter are the integration of satire into political discourse and policy promotion, political accountability and ministerial responsibility, differing notions of representation, Orwellian dogmas about political language, and the overall vision of the nature of politics provided by the satires. It is concluded that putting too much weight on such well-worn binary abstractions as theory and practice, satire and political reality, leads to the simplistic interpretation of this satire in particular and its variable relationship to and functions within actual political practice.